


I'll Be Home For Christmas

by DianaandAlicia



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Christmas, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Great Depression, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:53:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28387311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DianaandAlicia/pseuds/DianaandAlicia
Summary: It's Christmas in the 1930s. All Emori wants is for her husband to be home for the holiday.
Relationships: Emori/John Murphy (The 100)
Kudos: 6





	I'll Be Home For Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this and posted it on Tumblr before Christmas. I've just now had the time to post it here. I hope you like it!

December 23, 1933 

Emori Murphy stood in the kitchen of the boarding house she lived in with her three children: five year old Esther, three year old Oliver and one year old Donna. It was late evening, after dinner and while her kids played with some of the other children that lived in the boarding house, she helped Clarke Griffin, one of the other boarding house tenants with the dishes. 

As she dried a plate and put it away, Emori looked out the window and sighed. 

"Still no word?" Clarke asked, giving Emori a look of sympathy when she shook her head. 

"The last time he sent a letter was right before Thanksgiving, so about a month ago." Emori explained, and Clarke nodded. 

The Great Depression was casting a gloomy cloud over the country. The previous year, 1932, was terrible for the Murphy family. John lost his job, and after a few months of hoping he'd get a new job and using their life savings to stay afloat, things started to go downhill really quick. 

First, to try and supplement their income, the two went through their home and got rid of anything that was deemed frivolous, like excess gowns from when they'd go out on the town in the '20s and Emori also pawned off her really expensive jewelry. John sold the family automobile, and these steps helped slightly, but Donna's birth came with complications, and the new baby had to stay at the hospital for an extra three days in comparison to when Esther and Oliver were born, to make sure that she was ok. 

All of the efforts that the family made to get a little extra money went down the drain the moment they got the hospital bill. 

Eventually, the family's life savings started to dwindle down and they had some trouble making certain payments, like for the mortgage and electric bill. It was around this time as well when John got word that out west, there were jobs available, and after a talk with Emori, the couple agreed that it would be best for the family if John went searching for job opportunities that weren't available in their little town, and Emori stayed with the children until John had something stable enough to justify a move. 

So off he went. 

John left their sleepy Virginia town and found a job out west, in Colorado. Every two weeks he'd send Emori a letter with money, for her to pay Raven, a mutual friend of the couple that ran the boarding house. For about five months, they've been doing well, but after Thanksgiving, Emori hadn't heard from or got any letters from John. For all she knew, he could be dead right now. That's how lacking their correspondence had become, and knowing that from John's character, he would never stop sending letters unless something was really wrong. 

Emori worried a lot. First, she had no idea what kind of work John was doing, though she had a growing suspicion that it was some kind of mining job, which she would honestly be furious if it was. When the two got married, she made him swear up and down that he'd never get a job in a mine, because it was extremely dangerous. That was one profession she would not allow. She was also scared by his lack of letters because it brought up two scenarios in her mind. One, that he was either dead, sick, or injured so badly that he couldn't write, or two, that he found another woman and decided to abandon her and the kids. 

She believed that John would never do such a thing to her, but she wasn't going to be naive and pretend that stuff like that didn't happen. It happened to Clarke. She had a husband named Bellamy who had left to see if there were job prospects in Canada, leaving her with their two-year-old daughter Madi. Five months after he left, Clarke's cousin Josephine, who lived in Toronto, sent her a letter with a newspaper clipping. The clipping showed a picture of Bellamy, snuggling up to a new girl in an engagement picture. After Josephine did some digging, she had written to Clarke that the girl in the photo was loaded, and he was marrying her for money, lying to her and putting in a lot of effort to make sure that as far as she knew, Clarke and Madi did not exist. 

Though Emori believed that John loved her and the children too much to even consider that, she wasn't going to act stupid and rule it out entirely. 

"Well, I bet that since it's the holiday season, his boss is probably having him work longer hours, so maybe in the new year you'll get a nice long letter and more money the next time he writes." Clarke said hopefully, not wanting Emori to worry or feel bad. 

"Yeah. Maybe." Emori said quietly, and it was silent in the kitchen as the two finished up their tasks. 

The next day, which was Christmas Eve, was surprisingly relaxing. The little town got some snow overnight so the children played outside all day until an early supper. After supper, most of the boarding house residents, including Emori and the children went to church and after the service, they returned home to do a gift exchange for the children. The only thing the grownups wanted for Christmas was for the economy to improve, and for the continued safety and health of their children. Emori had handmade two gifts for all three kids, matching dresses for Esther and Donna, and a little suit set for Oliver. In their stockings from "Santa" she had sewn a rag doll for Esther, a little stuffed cat for Donna, and with the help of Lincoln, a tenant in the house who knew carpentry, they made a little wooden dog that had wheels for feet and a string attached to its mouth so it could be pulled around for Oliver. 

She knew that her children would be grateful of whatever they received, but she also knew that she couldn't get Esther or Oliver what they really wanted for Christmas. 

When she asked them, the two only said that they "wanted Daddy to come home," and knowing that she couldn't make it happen, especially when she hasn't heard from him in nearly a month, broke her heart. 

After the children opened their gifts, they all sat by the fireplace in the living 

room and played, while the grownups sat around and talked. They also listened to the radio, where President Roosevelt gave a holiday fireside chat, addressing the nation, which brought hope to the adults in the room. Emori was very pleased when he won the election, and she knew John had been too. It was refreshing to actually have a leader in office who cared enough about them to create programs that would hopefully help. 

After the chat ended, there was a sound of knocking on the door and everyone went silent, wondering who it was. 

"Maybe it's Santa." Oliver suggested, and all the grownups laughed. 

"Maybe it is." Raven agreed, getting up. "Because I have no idea who it could be at this hour on Christmas Eve." 

It was silent as they listened to her open the door, and after a moment, they heard her come back into the living room. 

"Oliver, you were right! It was Santa!" 

"It was?" 

"Yes, it was! And he had a very important message for me to share with all of you." 

“Oh, what was it?” Esther asked, and Raven smiled before stepping to the side. 

“Special delivery for the Murphy's!” She cheered, and at that moment, John stepped through the door, smiling the brightest smile Emori’s ever seen. 

“DADDY!” Esther and Oliver cheered, getting up from their places and running over to hug him. He picked both kids up and held them, before making his way over to Emori, who was holding Donna. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t written Em, but I have some good news and I wanted it to be a surprise.” 

“Having you here is enough.” 

“I still think you’ll like this.” He said, smiling as he pulled a paper out of his jacket pocket, handing it to his wife. 

“What’s this?” She asked, after a moment of looking at it. “John, is this?” 

“A deed to our very own house? Why yes, it is.” He said happily. “I made enough money to purchase a small farm in Nebraska, and we can grow our own food, sell crops, have animals, Emori, I told you after we got married that we’d have an adventure, this is just the next step.” 

“Oh my goodness.” Emori said, before looking at her husband with watery eyes. Ever since they lost their first home, John knew how important it was to her to have a stable place for them to raise their kids, together. The boarding house worked in a pinch, but she wanted him to be able to see the kids grow ups as well, instead of being on the other side of the country, working. 

“When will we go?” 

“Since we don’t have that many belongings, I was thinking of taking any excess stuff in the trunk on the train after Christmas, and then you would bring a suitcase and the children after the new year. That way we could start 1934 out together.” 

“I like that.” Emori said softly, before giving John a kiss. 

“I knew you would.” 

“And I love that you’re home. Merry Christmas John.” 

“Merry Christmas Emori.” 

The two embraced again before settling down to enjoy the holiday together, before setting off on a new journey for the new year. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
